The US and China are at loggerheads, philosophically, politically and economically ? though thankfully not in military terms ? and the contrast between how the two are perceived by financial markets could hardly be greater. Stock markets offer part of the story, as America's headline indices sit at or near to all-time highs, while the Shanghai Composite equity benchmark languishes where it did bac

Quantum computing has been setting the investment world on fire in recent months, and late last year, a handful of specialist stocks hit escape velocity.Between mid-November and the start of January, companies like Rigetti Computing (RGTI:NASDAQ) and D-Wave Quantum (QBTS:NYSE), two of the most traded stocks among AJ Bell platform users, saw their share prices surge 1,400% and 600% respectively.Hea

Out of nowhere the market for weight loss drugs has become one of the most exciting investment themes in the last two years, rivalling investor enthusiasm for AI.There is good reason for the excitement. Rod Wong, managing partner at RTW Biotech Opportunities (RTW) fund describes the development of obesity drugs as the biggest ever financial opportunity in healthcare.That is because obesity is the

Stock prices in London surged on Wednesday, with a sharp jump for the FTSE 250 allowing the UK-focused index to eat into some of its hefty loss so far in 2025.A favourable UK inflation reading calmed some bond markets and swung the pendulum in favour of a Bank of England rate cut at the central bank's next meeting.In addition, earnings from US banks were well-received, adding to the positive mood

World's largest chipmaker sees 34.4% revenue jump in Q4December sales alone up nearly 60%Stock more than doubled in past 12 monthsThere are plenty of sceptics who think the wheels will come off the AI bandwagon this year, but that's not what TSMC (TSM:NYSE) is seeing. The world's largest chip manufacturer posted forecast-thumping Q4 2024 revenue that implies the AI boom is still running at top spe

The US market lost its recent momentum in a big way this past week as shares collapsed on the 18 December with the S&P 500 enduring its worst day since 2001.The trigger for the sell-off was a hawkish tone from the US Federal Reserve even as it announced its latest interest rate cut.With officials signaling growing concern over the threat posed by inflation, the market moved quickly to reset bets o

What a mixed year this has turned out to be for Shares' best ideas for 2024.That our one star turn stock was an annuities and lifetime mortgage specialist, even if it was 'screamingly cheap at its current price', as we originally noted, and the supposedly exciting tech growth picks have been dull-to-dismal, might make you hark back to school days studies of Christopher Hill's The World Turned Upsi

In the first part of a three-part series featuring opinions and ideas from some of the UK's leading fund managers, we asked which stocks have surprised them the most over the course of the 2024 and why.While it was hard to avoid the influence of AI (artificial intelligence) on portfolios, the breadth of responses was surprising and goes to show how skilled stock-pickers can turn up gems in parts o

Credit/debit card firm has $3.9 billion of previous scheme to investS&P 500 companies on track for record buybacks yearMastercard shares have rallied 26% in 2024The board of Mastercard (MA:NYSE) has approved a new share buyback scheme worth $12 billion of its Class A shares, about 1.3% of its total share capital.Mastercard, one half of the world's debit and credit card duopoly with Visa (V:NYSE),

Predicting what will happen to the global economy and markets over the next 12 months is hard enough at the best of times, but with Trump's election victory on 5 November that job has become even more difficult.As Deutsche Bank's head of global economics and thematics Jim Reid put it, the outlook is no longer 'business as usual' which opens up a much wider range of potential outcomes for the globa

Silicon Valley giant Intel (INTC:NASDAQ) is facing more upheaval after announcing the unexpected retirement of chief executive officer, Pat Gelsinger. Effective immediately, the decision marks a significant shakeup for the chip maker as it grapples with ongoing challenges and competitive pressures in the semiconductor industry.Gelsinger returned to Intel in February 2021, having previously been it

Share price drifts as investors take a breatherAge of AI in full steam, states CEO Jensen HuangExpect analyst upgrades to flood inWhichever way you look at it, Nvidia's (NVDA:NASDAQ) Q3 earnings crushed it, surging past forecasts while continuing to demonstrate remarkable growth across its key business segments. 'The numbers speak for themselves', said AJ Bell investment analyst Dan Coatsworth. 'N

Texas-headquartered Dell Technologies (DELL:NYSE) stock has been making strides since the end of the summer and investors will be anticipating a strong end to 2024 as its AI servers business ramps up activity. Next week's quarterly earnings are a potential test of this confidence.Dell is already a key manufacturer in tech infrastructure and that edge is being sharpened by strong demand for next ge

Markets seem to approve of the election of Donald Trump as the 47th US president. The S&P 500 has hit a record high in the wake of the election result, crossing over the 6,000 mark for the first time. This latest bump comes on the back of an exceptional run for US stocks, which has put other regional markets firmly in the shade, including the UK's own stock market.The historic performance differen

To date, a small, exclusive club of UK retailers have exceeded £1 billion in annual profits, a high street elite that includes Tesco (TSCO), Marks & Spencer (MKS) and Kingfisher (KGF). Some may view this £1 billion figure as merely symbolic, but breaching this barrier is no mean feat and demonstrates a retailer has a lasting place in consumers' affections and the scale to win in a competitive ma

SDI (SDI:AIM) 58pMarket cap: £60.6 millionThe past couple of years have seen many a growth grenade tossed at SDI (SDI:AIM) yet the company has stuck to its largely successful knitting and we expect its fortunes to significantly improve through 2025. A casual glance at the share price chart might put a quick end to investors' research into this small cap business, but that's a mistake, in our view

European equities traded higher on Wednesday morning, as stocks in London shrugged off a hotter-than-forecast UK inflation reading for now.Sage shone on the FTSE 100, while Severn Trent also impressed.The FTSE 100 index climbed 23.61 points, 0.3%, at 8,122.63. The FTSE 250 edged up 22.23 points, 0.1%, at 20,449.85, and the AIM All-Share was up 2.56 points, 0.4%, at 726.79.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.

Stock hits three-month high $181Cloud and YouTube shineAI a battlefield for AlphabetOut of the mega tech blocks first - excluding Tesla (TSLA:NASDAQ) ? Alphabet (GOOG:NASDAQ) calmed nerves on Wall Street after-hours Tuesday (29 Oct) with a sharp acceleration in Google Cloud's third-quarter growth rate, while election spending also boosted advertisement sales, especially on YouTube. Going from the

Quarterly growth slows to 1.5%Greater China contracts by 10%2024 shareholder return over $1bnThe message from InterContinental Hotels Group's (IHG) seems to be the global travel boom is petering out after the Holiday Inn-owner revealed slower revenue growth in the third quarter.Investors didn't appear too bothered though - after falling 1.8% in early trading the shares perked up into positive terr

As tobacco firm Imperial Brands (IMB) announced its latest share buyback, there was an extraordinary, albeit logical, observation from broker Panmure Liberum.Analyst Rae Maile noted that, if it continued at its current pace, the company stood a good chance of buying back all of its shares within a decade.'Since October 2022, the company has bought back 106 million shares at an average price of £